


The Winner Takes It All

by DoeEyedButterFly



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:56:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29275815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoeEyedButterFly/pseuds/DoeEyedButterFly
Relationships: Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Kudos: 9





	The Winner Takes It All

"Are you kidding me?!" Rachel shouted and it echoed off the walls. Her voice cracked.  
Chloe winced, wondering what she had just seen, but said nothing. For now.  
"Three hours !!! They interviewed me for three hours and THAT is the result ?! A stupid one-liner?"

Rachel's horror seemed to grow bigger and bigger.  
The young blonde woman who had made it to the finals of a big TV show along with Rachel, was called Maisie, was twenty-two years old, had big blue eyes with long false eyelashes and was a ballet dancer in Russia, as well as having her own dance school and one accordingly huge fan club of students who supported her.  
Masie had told of her childhood, which she had spent in a refugee home, of her mother who had defeated breast cancer and then lost a second time, and that she dedicated every single dance to her late mother.

Rachel, who led by two points, was introduced afterwards.  
Her name, her age, her occupation, although here it was only described what she did to make ends meet, not in the slightest that she had a theater education and acted whenever finances allowed it.  
Then it showed what she had said: "I'll do anything to win. ANYTHING!" Two seconds.

"Rachel," Chloe tried to calm her down and put her arm on her shoulder, but she knew better. She hadn't even touched her friend with her fingertips when Rachel tore herself free, stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door.  
Through the wood that had already splintered in several places, Chloe could hear Rachel burst into tears.

She took three deep breaths and then started counting.  
When she got to seven, held her breath, waited five seconds, and then gave a good gasp, she heard more noises.  
  
Rachel had thrown things around and was crying harder.  
  
Chloe considered, maybe just let her rage on, but then it occurred to her how hard Rachel had trained, for hours, every day, every night.  
She wasn't a trained dancer and that spurred her on even more.  
Rachel had pushed herself too hard, as always. She hadn't wanted to neglect her daytime job and certainly not her relationship with Chloe. But also don't want to miss the chance that her career could pick up.  
She had danced her way into the finals and won over the jury with her style, Chloe knew for sure that her family and old friends were all cheering in front of the screens.

Chloe raised her head and went into the bedroom, she had seen worse, but Rachel had definitely done a lot of damage in a short time.  
She sat on the bed and sobbed and shook herself.  
Chloe sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her friend.  
"Come on. Victory is yours. You know. I know."  
"Oh really?" Rachel looked at her and her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

  
"What is this shit? She's a fucking saint apparantly. A champion. She sacrifices herself, what she does is art, she will only win by talent and ME? I'm a whore. It seems. I would do anything to win - it doesn't matter whether I can do something, or how hard I try or how well I perform, whether I am called to do best, as long as I just suck the jury's dicks! Because I'll do anything, right?! That's what this clip says. "  
Chloe smiled. The drama queen stroke again.  
"Well, two of the jury members are female, so you have to suck something else." Chloe winked, but Rachel remained angry.  
"Not funny."  
"Really? Hm. Whatevs. Get up."  
"No."  
"No?" You just want to sit there and complain? "  
"I'm not complaining. And if you don't like looking at me, you can fucking leave."

Chloe sighed and got up, at that moment Rachel turned to her. "You're not really leaving, are you?"  
Chloe laughed and went around the bed, she sat right in front of Rachel and looked at her for a long time.  
Then she took her hands, kissed them gently and said: "Listen Rach, you are wonderful and talented, otherwise you would not have made it that far. I understand you, you are frustrated and obvs don't want to lose to this bitch, but look You have a sad backstory from the past, you have tons of sad things that happened to you, but you don't need to mention them and you made it to the final without the pity of the others and this Maisie didn't. You own her, I know it. And if you don't win Rachel, then you're still a finalist, you're going to perform in front of at least half a million people, they'll all see how hella good you are and want to book you for their shit. You'll see.  
Please, please stop crying now, it is totally wrecking me. "  
"But-"  
"No, stop! Shut it and get up, finish packing your fucking suitcase and let's bounce. If we don't get off in time, then the final will be over for you anyways. "

And finally Rachel smiled.  
Chloe was still holding her hands and slowly pulled Rachel to her feet.  
Rachel slumped against Chloe and kissed her, kissed her for a long time.  
"Uhm, Rach? -"  
"Mhmm?"  
"You already heard that part when I said we'd be late if we don't leave now?"  
"Mhm ... and that's why you should really shut up and kiss me back right now."  
Chloe laughed and closed her eyes.

Because fate is a fucking asshole, Rachel didn't win.  
She won over the audience and was the favorite, but the jury gave Maisie three more points and Rachel lost.  
She was the biggest a person could be in the situation and went up to Maisie after the show, congratulating her.  
With tears in her eyes, Rachel confirmed that she was sad that she hadn't won, but also that she was happy for Maisie.

After they left, they didn't say another word about participating in the show.  
Rachel initially made no move to attend castings or auditions or to prepare, she went to work and back and otherwise wanted to be left alone, she went to bed early and was often in a bad mood, even if she tried to cover it up.

And then the phone rang late one evening, Rachel made no attempt to pick it up, even though it was on her bedside table, so Chloe bent down around Rachel and picked it up.

"Yeah, I'll tell her," Chloe said after listening in silence.  
Then she hung up and gave Rachel a gentle shake to wake her up.

  
"Babe, that ... those were the producers of this show. They wanted to do a movie with Masie, the winner. She somehow just can't get along with the other actors, she thinks, she is too special and no one likes her and they think you could have better chemistry with them and they want you to come to the studio."  
Rachel rose slightly, blinking at Chloe in the dark.  
"Are you kidding me?"  
"No."

Rachel's teeth shone in the dark, she grinned so broadly.  
Sometimes fate wasn't a fucking asshole after all.


End file.
